Pindi violence: LHC commission rejected

Community leaders demand that the chief justice himself lead the inquiry.

KARACHI: Political entities representing the Shia community have rejected the judicial commission formed by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to probe the Rawalpindi incident, and demanded that no less a person than the chief justice himself should lead the inquiry.

Addressing a news conference in Karachi on Wednesday, the leaders said that the Punjab government had formed the inquiry commission in order to “defend the crimes of an outlawed group, which resulted in the violence spilling into Multan, Chishtian and Kohat.”

The incident, in which at least 11 people were killed, is to be probed by the commission formed by LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on the request of the Punjab government.

Allama Abbas Kumaili, the head of Jafaria Alliance Pakistan, said that reports of police and intelligence agencies suggest that a hate-speech sparked tensions in Rawalpindi.

“The central procession in Rawalpindi was later attacked and we demand that those responsible for it must be arrested and punished.” Allama Hassan Zafar Naqvi, the central spokesperson of Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen, said that religious seminaries should not be built within the premises of mosques and demanded the government establish them on the outskirts of cities, where only students belonging to a particular province should receive education.

While rejecting what he termed ‘distorted media coverage’ of the Rawalpindi incident, Allama Nazir Abbas Taqvi of Shia Ulema Council said the ‘media trial’ must stop.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 21^st, 2013.